Freight Facility Grants are available under the Transport Act 2000 to assist companies with the capital costs of providing facilities to handle freight by water rather than road and are made in recognition of the environmental and other benefits which water transportation brings.

Abnormal indivisible loads are those more than 5m wide and 27.4m long where the gross vehicle weight exceeds 150 tonnes. Some 400 such loads crawl along British roads each year further disrupting already heavy traffic. The MPP project will significantly reduce the road mileage of many of these loads and will specifically target electricity supply and generation equipment as well as petrochemical plant.

The first stage of the project, the purchase and conversion of the Inland Navigator by Dunston Ship Repairers of Hull, has already been completed at a cost of some £400,000. The vessel was acquired from Whitaker Tankers of Hull, who will continue to provide crew.

A contract for the construction of the MPP was signed in May with Dutch builders Damen, who will construct it at their Okean yard in the Ukraine for finishing at Gorinchem. The semi-submersible towed craft will have bow thrusters for manoeuvrability and will be able to handle heavy loads on and off conventional berths, riverbanks or beaches.

Accommodating varying tidal ranges and quay heights, loads are transferred using combined ro-ro and lo-lo loading techniques.

The vessel's ability to access such inland locations as Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham as well as the European canal network will enable the British heavy manufacturing sector to rethink its ability to compete abroad for larger and heavier fabrications.

Gaps in the large load schedule can be filled removing non-time sensitive conventional cargoes from the road while demonstrating to barge operators that it is possible to get containers upriver.

MJInformation No: 17208